


Beyond a Binary Sunset

by CayaStrife



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Ahch-To, EPVIII, Emotional, Episode VIII, Gen, Grief, Internal Monologue, Luke - Freeform, Luke Skywalker - Freeform, The Force, The Last Jedi - Freeform, VIII - Freeform, force, sequels, tlj - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-14
Updated: 2017-12-14
Packaged: 2019-02-14 17:57:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13013130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CayaStrife/pseuds/CayaStrife
Summary: A vignette based on the end of "The Last Jedi". Which means it should be needless to say that this story contains SPOILERS for episode VIII - so don't read if you haven't watched the movie or don't want to read spoilers.





	Beyond a Binary Sunset

The island lay waiting. For millennia, it had witnessed triumph and tragedy, dreams and despair, light and dark. Birth and death. Unwavering, it had existed in balance, a precarious equilibrium ever at the precipice of destruction, yet as sure and steady as the returning rise and fall of its vast oceans’ tides.

Now, with bated breath, the murky vermillion of sunset once more heralded the restoration of balance. A new light had been lit, and for it to prosper and grow to meet the falling darkness, another had to be snuffed out, extinguished. Too great, too strong was its own flame.

Luke Skywalker, farmboy, pilot, hero of the Rebellion and last Master of the fading Jedi Order, lay slumped on the dais. His energy expended, he wearily lifted his gaze to the sky, to the horizon. The way he always had - as Master Yoda never tired to remind him. Too often, his mind had been with the future, the past, far-away places, craving excitement and adventure.

 _‘Never in the here and now_.’

A wistful smile crept onto his lined and weather-beaten face at the memory. As the clouds before him thickened, images again came to his mind. Of the past, of course, of dear, dear friends who had gone before him. Of those he had barely known, and yet others that were inextricable parts of him. Of those he had seen off and yet others who had died far away, alone, unexpectedly, and whom he would give everything to bask in their presence one more time, to share one last smile, one last embrace. Of days when he still had hope and it seemed all troubles in the galaxy could be fixed if he simply put his back into it. He had been naive, perhaps, innocent, wide-eyed and excitable. With a mixture of surprise and regret he wondered when that young man had been lost. Was it the night he had confronted his nephew? When he had been suffocated by his own terror? He feared the answer was hardly so simple. Briefly, he wondered whether his father had ever had similar doubts when pondering the duality of his existence - yet the idea was fleeting and passed before he could dwell on it too much. These were no longer his concerns.

As the Force gathered around him, a gentle warmth spread throughout his spent body, cradling him like a parent comforting their child after a disturbing nightmare. Its familiar voices whispered words of courage, of forgiveness, promising companionship and guidance in the face of the unknown.

And after years of closing himself off from the Force, separating himself from that which made him whole, he now once more surrendered to it, let himself fall into its waiting embrace without any inhibitions, with complete trust and acceptance. Around him, the barren rock suddenly dissolved, disintegrated, took on the form of innumerable grains of sand, coarse and hot to the touch. Behind himself, he felt the indistinct presences of his aunt and uncle going about their daily business on their small farm. He shouldn’t be dawdling, he remembered vaguely; if he fell behind on his chores, his uncle would give him an earful. A soft, warm wind picked up, blowing strands of bleached blond hair into his eyes, as he looked skyward and once more, for a final time, faced the binary sunset.

**Author's Note:**

> Watching "The Last Jedi" last night left me somewhat emotional, and I felt the urge to write a little something to reconcile with what I'd seen on the big screen. Needless to say, I feel sorry (if not somewhat enraged) with what Disney has made of our positive, innocent farmboy. What TLJ showed us was not the pure person whose conviction was so strong that he even managed to turn Lord Darth Vader back to the light.
> 
> I'm considering writing more to this - being one with the Force opens up many possibilities that seem intriguing. If there's anything you'd like to read, just let me know.  
> In any case, I'll get back to writing on "Signature" now; I could really use the positivity now.


End file.
